Topic: IDC

While differing on some key figures, global tablet industry statistics published on Thursday suggest that the Apple's iPad still has a firm lead as the most popular option, even if the company and the industry as a whole are losing sales.

Leaning on an expansive lineup of affordable Android handsets, Samsung retained its spot as the world's top smartphone vendor for the third quarter of 2016, according to research firm IDC. However, premium phone makers -- Apple and Samsung included -- are being squeezed from the bottom, as manufacturers of cheaper Android alternatives gained ground.

Apple's share of the worldwide PC market continued a steady decline in the third calendar quarter of 2016, with estimates from market research firms IDC and Gartner both seeing shipments down least 13 percent from last year.

Shares of Apple increased nearly 2 percent today to close at $98.79, close to the peak the stock has traded since diving below $100 after the company reported its fiscal Q2 earnings. Within two weeks, Apple will announce its earnings for Q3, which ended in June.

Apple's share of the global PC market took a substantial hit during a challenging second quarter, dropping the company down to fifth place among the world's top computer manufacturers, according to preliminary numbers from market research firms Gartner and IDC.

Consumers have apparently taken a liking to the iPad Pro following its November release, as new data suggests that Apple moved nearly half a million more of the jumbo tablets alone than Microsoft did of its entire Surface lineup.

Apple's dominance of the growing wearables market will continue for the foreseeable future, market research firm IDC projected on Thursday, forecasting that the Apple Watch will control the lion's share of the smartwatch market through the year 2019.

Four years ago, IDC issued a prediction--disguised as fact--that claimed Windows Phone would eclipse Apple's iPhone by 2015. While laughable in hindsight, IDC now says Microsoft's Surface sales will improve at the expense of iPads, offering an even less plausible explanation for why this could happen.

The launch of the iPad Pro signals a major shift in the tablet market, two new forecasts predict, calling for cheaper vendors selling smaller tablets to be affected by consumer demand for newer, larger, and more powerful hardware.

Though Apple still hasn't announced sales of its wrist-worn Apple Watch, that hasn't stopped yet another research firm from throwing their hat into the ring, estimating that Apple debuted at second place in the wearable device market behind Fitbit.

Even with iPhone sales continuing to be strong, Apple is unlikely to make deeper inroads into Android's global marketshare in the near future, according to projections from an IDC research report released on Tuesday.

While the Apple iPad held on to its position as the leading tablet brand worldwide during the June quarter, the gap with other tablet makers shrank -- as did the market overall, according to IDC research data released on Wednesday.

IDC research data published on Thursday shows that Apple's share of the global smartphone market grew to 14.1 percent in the June quarter, up from 11.7 percent in the same period a year ago -- largely at the expense of Samsung.

Continuing to buck trends, Mac sales rose 16.1 percent year-over-year in the June quarter even as the PC industry as a whole shrank 11.8 percent, according to new estimates published on Thursday by research firm IDC.

The Chinese smartphone market shrunk by 4 percent in the first quarter of calendar 2015, marking the first time it has seen a year over year contraction in six years, even in the face of huge growth by Apple, IDC reported on Monday.

A fresh report from research firm IDC published on Tuesday found Apple's share of the Chinese smartphone market nearly doubled over the fourth quarter of 2014, while rival Samsung saw its share further deteriorate as competing Android makers gained ground with low-cost device alternatives.

The worldwide tablet market saw its first-ever year-over-year decline in the holiday quarter, but the biggest losses were seen by Amazon, which saw shipments of its budget-priced Kindle Fire series plummet 70 percent.